This cache is part of the larger Santa Fe Trail GeoTour: santafetrail.org/geocaching Be sure to visit www.santafetrail.org/geocaching to learn about the PASSPORT ACTIVITY to accompany this Geo Tour.
The Caches, was an oft-noted landmark on the trail. These famous pits, commented on by numerous trail travelers, were dug out in 1822-23. A trading party led by James Baird and Samuel Chambers set out from Missouri late in 1822. Their pack train was caught by a blizzard near this site and the party took shelter on a large island in the Arkansas River. They were stranded for three months, enduring a severe winter during which they lost their pack animals to the harsh weather. In the early spring of 1823, they dug deep pits on a slope on the north side of the river above their winter camp, stored their merchandise, and proceeded to Taos to purchase mules and supplies. They came back to the site, dug up their goods and proceeded on their way to Santa Fe. The pits were left open and numerous travelers thereafter commented about the pits, which became a landmark on the trail. No evidence of them remains today, as all signs of their existence has been obliterated by modern farming.
Susan Magoffin, one of those traveling the trail in 1846, noted that “. . . the Caches are large holes dug in the ground somewhat in the shape of a jug. They are situated about a quarter of a mile from the river, on the rather elevated piece of ground, and within a hundred yards of the road which runs at present between there and the river. They are quite as noted as any point on the road and few travelers pass without visiting them. . ." Susan Magoffin, Down the Santa Fe Trail and into Mexico, the Diary of Susan Shelby Magoffin, Page 53-54.
Another who noted this site was Joseph C. Brown, surveyor of the Santa Fe Trail, 1825-1827. In his report, discussing the location of the middle crossing of the Arkansas River on the Santa Fe Trail, he noted that “. . . Some turn off at a place known to the Santa Fe travelers by the name of the "Caches," near to which is a rocky point of a hill at some distance from the river, composed of cemented pebbles, and therefore called Gravel Rocks [Point of Rocks, Ford County, KS]. . . “
Near the site of this geocache, located on the north side of US 50 is a Monument, and interpretive signage, that commemorates the Caches as a famous Santa Fe Trail Campsite. The panel also provides information on Fort Mann, in use in 1847, and Fort Atkinson, established in 1854 both of which were located in the immediate vicinity. The marker where the geocache is located was set cooperatively by the Wet/Dry Routes chapter and the Fort Dodge/Dodge City/Cimarron Chapter of the Santa Fe Trail Association.
Containers on the Santa Fe National Historic Trail Geo Tour are military ammunition canisters, or Brochure-Holder boxes,with an identifying Santa Fe Trail Association yellow sticker on the top of the box, under the handle and the dark green geocaching.com ID is on the side of the boxes with the information that provides coordinates, who set the cache and who to contact for information. Each cache contains a logbook to sign, a variety of items that provide information about the Santa Fe Trail as well as swag items. If you are participating in the Passport activity, the code word is located on the inside of the box, on the top of the lid and is clearly identified as Code Word. Permission to set caches has been obtained. We ask that all cachers please respect all property at the sites where our caches are set.